Summary
A combined scanning/transmission electron microscopic (SEM/TEM) technique was used to analyze the third cerebral ventricle and underlying tissue of the median eminence of 6 mature rhesus monkeys. The same sample of the ventricular wall was subjected to both SEM and TEM. This technique demonstrates two basic subpopulations of supraependymal cells on the surface of the supraoptic, infundibular and mammillary recesses. Type 1 cells are definitely neuron-like in their surface configuration and internal fine structural organization. Type 2 cells are more similar to histiocytes and are not as numerous as type 1 cells. The functional capacity of type 1 cells is discussed in the context of their potential role as a neuronal network that may serve as a short loop autoregulatory mechanism controlling the synthesis of releasing hormones or biogenic amines.
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Supported by USPHS Program Project Grant NS 11642, HD 08867
Career Development Awardee KO4-GM-70001
NSF Inst. 73-159
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Scott, D.E., Krobisch-Dudley, G., Paull, W.K. et al. The primate median eminence. Cell Tissue Res. 162, 61–73 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00223262
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00223262